I'm sitting next to Devil, who is proxy for Product Actual. Devil is awesome. Today, everything went more or less to plan, so what happens next is mostly formality - but the forms must be obeyed.
Was everything accepted?
Agile requires that our team demonstrate what we've done to Product, and they get final sign off on whether or not it is done to their satisfaction. Devil nods, and I look in the queue and click the 'accept' button three times:
One.
Two.
Three.
And immediately forget about it. There's an iteration planning meeting coming up. I need to be ready. I think some of my stuff might get picked up.
I'm focused on that as I walk out, unaware of how three clicks will turn into a sh!t show.
* * *
From: Ahhh
To: murph
Cc: Nugget
Subject: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
Hello! There’s work I need to do on the tickets and having them in the showcase queue, checking them, and then moving them is my process. I don’t think there’s any immediate hurry outside of the showcase day. If you’re being asked to move them please let me know so I can address it with whoever is asking you. Thanks
Brief aside, here: Ahhh refers to stories as 'tickets' and refuses to call them anything else. Whatever. Ahhh has cc'ed Nugget, who is our Scrum Master, for reasons that are clear to pretty much no one.
From: murph
To: Ahhh
Cc: Nugget
Subject: RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
What additional process is involved in accepting stories?
My understanding was that you were minding the RFD queue with regards to priority. If this has changed, that’s news to me. I moved the cards to accepted because I was sitting next to Product when they said they were accepted.
From: Ahhh
To: murph
Cc: Nugget
Subject: RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
If there’s any of the field entries out of whack/missing/etc. I get a talking to. So, no. Not just priority.
At this point, Nugget comes over to my desk to ask me if there is some irrevocable aspect to marking a story 'accepted.' There isn't, I say, and since Ahhh is an admin on the site, they are able to edit any aspect of a card. Nugget seems confused by why Ahhh is making a deal out of this. I share their confusion. Nugget walks off.
From: Nugget
To: Ahhh, murph
Subject: RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
I like the process of updating right away in the showcases as the Dragon team does it that way too. I also try to update the release page shortly after (don’t always get to it) and look for Accepted before marking them off.
From: Ahhh
To: Nugget, murph
Subject: RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
I sure can change my process to accommodate your process. Who will be the responsible party for moving the tickets to Accepted? Thanks
From: Nugget
To: Ahhh; murph
Subject: RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
Ok, thanks. I think you should own all the activities with the board which includes marking as Accepted.
Translation: Nugget is washing their hands of this.
From: Ahhh
To: Nugget, murph
Subject: action needed RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
(Subject change and highlighted text in original)
From: murph
To: Ahhh, Nugget
Subject: action needed RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
I Do Not 8-)
Partly because I think the point of a tool like Mixer is to share a workflow, so that tasks have more coverage and people can help each other out.
But also because I really don’t see limiting use in Mixer as solving this issue. If you’re getting grief because there are missing fields, we can add validation to the transitions to enforce those fields (and share the issue with the larger team, so that new cards are filled out correctly, rather than have the same process lead to more cards to clean up).
From: Nugget
To: murph, Ahhh
cc: Gumby
Subject: action needed RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
Copying [your boss] as well for their thoughts. I agree the team should all move their cards through the workflow. Am suggesting that Ahhh owns the “bookends” to that flow meaning she will get it moved through the analysis phase and get it RFD and then be the one to close it out by Accepting it. If the Accepting can be done during the showcase, then this should work (at least for me).
If we still disagree, let’s set up some time to discuss further.
From: Ahhh
To: Nugget, murph
cc: Gumby
Subject: action needed RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
Nugget, Could you describe what moving it through the analysis phase looks like for you? We have various UXers assigned to the analysis work on the different cards – and typically the assigned UXer is the one to present it for estimation (in pre-ipm) and for RFD. It would be helpful to understand you thoughts in more detail. Thanks
From: Gumby
To: Ahhh, Nugget, murph
cc: Gumby
Subject: action needed RE: thanks, but please don't move the tickets to accepted
First and foremost, my expectation is that the team works together. Attached are the expectations based on what is needed for the team…regardless of who is doing the work. Ahhh is the single point of contact and we look to them for the work to be completed (like before a Pre-IPM). However, if murph is moving stories to accepted during the showcase, I would see this as a nice gesture.
I’m not sure who is providing the “talking to” as referred to below. The bottom line is BigDog’s team is relying on us to manage the queue. If managing the queue is creating such issues that it creates strings of emails on a regular basis, then we need to rethink the process.
When I read discussions like this, I feel like a lot of energy is being focused on the Mixer board that would be more productive if focused elsewhere.
And when I read discussions like this, I feel like hurling my laptop out of window.
1 comment:
So... Is Ahhh not the person who moved on last month? Or was that someone else?
Sincerely,
Your Spouse's Oldest Sibling
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